I’m not looking for help per se, but just curious what someone would do in this situation.

I was about to repaint a room in my new home and as I was chipping away at some peeling paint and getting ready for a quickie spackle job – gasp!- the entire wall started to peel away.

So it looks like there was old wallpaper there, which had been painted over a few times. It’s peeling off very quickly but leaving behind an even layer of gross old adhesive.

So my question is – would you sand the whole wall and then paint the walls OR rewallpaper the room (about 10 x 10).

If I do wallpaper, do I still have to get rid of the old adhesive on the walls?

P.S. I’m under a time line and need this room ready in about a week.


Comments

  1. It takes a LOT of work but is worth the effort to clean it completely. I used Mex, hot water, a steamer, scrapers & a ton of elbow grease since some methods worked well in one area but not in another. Some areas come off easily & some are really recalcitrant.

  2. Make sure you use a very good fast drying stain blocking enamel based primer. I would prime before doing any patching, skim coating ect. as soon as the walls have dried out. Make sure you clean up the molding after.

  3. I’ve never had a problem with just warm water and a scraper and sponge. Sometimes a razor scraper comes in handy too. Just make sure you keep the water warm.

  4. I just ran into the same problem, except mine is leaving paper behind too (100yr old probably)… I think we’ll be forced to go the 1/4 sheetrock route unless others here have better solutions? It is multiple rooms and walls – three floors! I don’t think the enzyme will help, and eman1234, what is Mex? other ideas?

  5. I believe DIF makes a liquid wallpaper stripper that has an enzyme to dissolve the paste. The same company sells a tool for removing the paper, it should be near by the stripper. If memory serves me correctly it is called a paper shark.